TWO PERSPECTIVES – ONE REALITY
God is perfect – Creation is imperfect. God is Eternal – Creation is temporary. God is timeless – Creation is in time. God is Spirit – Creation is elemental matter. God is infinite, boundless Potential – Creation is third dimensional time/space reality. God is subjective reality – Creation is imperfect objective imagery of reality.
The Creator created humankind in the divine image and likeness so in our spirits we are perfect, but in our bodies, we are as yet imperfect. The unseen is perfect; the seen is imperfect. All things that are substantial are mutable; all things that are insubstantial are immutable. All things in the Creation are imperfect, but the unseen matrixes from which they emerge are perfect.
The subjective reality of God, Love, Light, and Spirit are perfect – all existing knowledge, including philosophies, books, writings, and religions are imperfect. As a human being, Jesus was imperfect until he became one with the Christ Light and the Holy Spirit; he was then transformed and raised up into perfection. His imperfect human body was made perfect. Jesus Christ demonstrated that the human body has the potential for perfection.
The human body was configured to be transformed; it was configured to be changed into perfection. From imperfection to perfection is the story of Jesus Christ. He was born into imperfection and raised into perfection through Christ. This story of imperfection to perfection is our story also. Christianity has been instrumental in the spiritual inspiration and psychological development of civilized man through the utilization of structured systems of belief surrounding the life of Jesus Christ.
Christian religions have guided humanity in purifying and spiritualizing the human nature of their members as well as encouraging the development of their civic and familial responsibilities. The church has been the center of the community and the meeting place for the faithful and for their shared activities. Members have supported their churches and the churches have fed, guided, counseled, and inspired those who come to worship.
The church and its community members have always had a mutually beneficial relationship; worshippers are loyal because without those members the church would not be able to sustain its existence. For those religious Christians who are satisfied with community fellowship and service, and who enjoy the church as their center of worship, this is a wonderful relationship.
For the spiritual Christian who seeks internal knowledge, spiritual instruction, and personal transformation, such wisdom will not be found in these houses of worship. Worship is the external and passive (singing, prayer, listening to sermons) offering of reverence, respect, and admiration to God; it is exoteric in nature. Whereas, seeking internal wisdom is esoteric in nature, in other words, it is an active, disciplined, and at times, uncomfortable struggle to experience higher knowledge, insight and divine presence within as we attempt to correct our human imperfections.
Many Christian religions believe that faith alone in Jesus of Nazareth determines one’s salvation and the reward for this unwavering faith comes after death by being accepted into the Kingdom of Heaven. Essentially, their belief in salvation depends upon the complete acceptance and faith in this fixed belief or objective perspective of the life of Jesus as presented by the church. Spiritual Christians pursue the subjective meaning in the life experiences of Jesus Christ because collectively, these represent the Way of Life He tells us to follow.
Spiritual Christians know Jesus’ transformations throughout His ministry represent spiritual transformations we can also experience; and we know His character, selfless love, honor, devotion and divinity can be emulated when He tells us, “These things I do so shall you do also.” These spiritual transformations and qualities of being can be experienced in present time reality, just as heaven can be experienced within, here and now. These do not require belief to experience.
Beliefs, like religion, are limited in their reach. Beliefs are like the scaffolding around a building which is under construction. Scaffolding is vitally important to the construction process, but it is NOT the building. This is the common misconception among Christians; that is, mistakenly accepting the beliefs as reality rather than recognizing the reality to which these beliefs point. Beliefs are meant to be the stepping stones to internal knowing. Religion and beliefs are explanations presented in terms of objective reality, whereas, internal knowing of truth is subjective reality; human objective reality is imperfect; subjective knowing of reality is reality.
There is no religion higher than truth and it has been made clear that each of us has the ability to ascertain the truth within. “Seek and ye will find.” Religion is as deeply an established institution as the United States Government; in its own realm, religion is the ultimate legalistic authority, but the final word rests with the Holy Trinity. To present an alternate, but parallel perspective to the teachings of Christ, as this paper and website does, requires clearly distinguishing these esoteric teachings from the tenets of traditional religion.
This is in no way a rejection of traditional religion for it has served as a stepping stone for millions, but it has not provided all the answers to some very important questions. Christ revealed that heaven is within and that is exactly the destination revealed in these esoteric teachings. Heaven, here and now, is the destination the spiritual Christian aspires to through purification, transformation and meditation.
As explained in this and the preceding paper, the majority of Christians embrace the exoteric perspective regarding the life of Jesus Christ. This is very beneficial to those who need a role model and the helping hand of a personal savior to comfort and guide them. Enough cannot be said about the amazing grace of the Holy Trinity that is available to all who simply ask, for they shall receive.
This amazing grace also extends to those who seek the higher truth within, for we are told that if we knock (for higher knowledge) it shall be opened. What is so amazing is how many different levels of understanding and how many different kinds of people from different cultures around the world can relate to and be transformed by the selfless love of Jesus Christ. Love is truly the universal language.
For those of us who seek the spiritual knowledge of Christ’s teachings, we too cherish the love of Jesus, but we actively seek the fount of that divine Light and Love. To seek and approach the Godhead requires personal transformation. Although most people turn to the story of Jesus, the spiritual Christian recognizes the life of Christ as a series of internal transformational processes.
The key events in the life of Jesus Christ were either about transfiguration or transformation – from His transformation at the baptism to His final transformation at the ascension. These miraculous events represent the spiritual path; Jesus Christ was the only begotten of humankind and He demonstrated the path of spiritual transformation for all to follow, the steps on the path are: the transformation and purification of the physical body, the regeneration of the soul, and the ascension of the resurrected consciousness into the divine Light within.
Most Christian religions celebrate the events in the life of Jesus Christ outwardly, through their various ceremonies and services, such as the forgiveness of sin, receiving the Holy Spirit through the baptism, receiving the body and blood of Christ through the Eucharist, the birth of Christ, and the resurrection on Easter. The celebration of these miraculous events in the life of Jesus Christ makes a positive impression on the church members which inspires them to live a better life. This open representation of Christ’s life is displayed in objective reality for the congregation to experience.
In a parallel experience, the spiritual Christian sits alone and quietly contemplates the miraculous events in the life of Christ in an effort to discern the significance and subjectivity of this reality and to feel the divine presence connected to it. In this meditative state, often times, insight expands the perception surrounding the occasion and opens one’s understanding to greater knowing and opens one’s heart to divine Love.
The most important feature regarding the life of Jesus Christ is that both the religious and the spiritual Christian are pursuing the same goal of Divine Love and Truth, only they are using different methods. It is important to remember that regardless of how a person chooses to approach God, we are all one in Christ.
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